Welcome Home, Sophie Devereaux (A War of the Worlds Story)
by stormy.grace
Summary: Sophie agrees to come back without Jane Anne, and even though she's coming back to the same world, everything is different.


**Before we get to the story I want to take a moment to thank my amazing friend Maria, who helped me so much with this story and pretty much every other one I've written. I know I didn't end up using the title or cover picture you provided, and it didn't turn out really anything like we discussed, it wasn't my fault. I truly believe that the stories already exist. They just have to go through us writers to get out there in the world. So this is the version of the story that wanted to be written, and it probably would've taken much longer without our brainstorming sessions. And to include the rest of you lovely readers, enjoy and there may or may not be more to this particular story. Stay tuned, loves!**

_Jane Anne, please! Don't make me go back alone._

"Sophie!" Davina cried as she leapt out of her chair and covered the space between it and the bed in one long stride.

The witches had the City of the Dead on lockdown after Hayley and Elena's murder spree, but they had all managed to work together for once and had somehow snuck in and taken Sophie's body from her final resting place. Although decomposition had already started to set in they had laid her out on a bed and performed a spell Tessa had created several centuries ago. That had been two days ago. Davina and the other witches and Cami had taken turns sitting with the body and waiting for Sophie to return to them. In the time that had passed Klaus had received a message from Tyler about a possible weakness in the Guerrera pack that they could use to their advantage, and both Elijah and Damon had practically driven themselves, and everyone else, crazy with worrying about Hayley and Elena, who were still missing.

Davina was worried about them too. She didn't know Elena very well, but from what she had heard her recent actions were very unlike her. She did know that although Hayley was a fierce and loyal friend and ally, tearing the city apart looking for witches to exact revenge on wasn't really her either. Loosing Hope had obviously taken a toll on her, and although Elena seemed like a strong, independent woman, apparently Hayley had managed to drag her down the bloody path of witch hunting with her.

There had been some speculation that maybe Talia had somehow used her mermaid powers of persuasion to put her new mother under some kind of spell, and Davina suspected that was probably right, but her main concern the last couple of days had been Sophie Devereaux.

She had been sitting in the armchair in the room Sophie would be sharing with Cami, who still wanted to go back to her own apartment, and Meredith Fell, the human doctor from Mystic Falls, for nearly two hours. Marcel had brought her something to eat when she refused to come down for dinner, and Josh had come up to keep her company. He was asleep in the floor now, and Davina had been close to sleep herself when Sophie had suddenly sat up and started gasping for air. There was a terrified look on her face and she was clutching her chest, no doubt freaked out about the feeling of her heart starting to beat again. Davina remembered that feeling very well, and it was one she hoped to never experience again.

Josh shot up at the commotion and was instantly at the door announcing that the spell had worked and Sophie was alive again. Davina sat down beside her and grabbed her hands.

"Sophie!" she exclaimed as the other witch continued to panic. "Sophie, it's okay. It's me. Davina." She reached out a hand and brushed the older woman's hair back, gently caressing her face in an attempt to help calm her. "It's okay. You're okay. Just breathe."

"Breathe?" Sophie asked, looking at Davina with wide eyes. "I'm dead! I'm not dead. I'm alive. I'm alive? How am I alive? Monique…"

"Monique killed you." Davina confirmed as the other three witches entered the room. "But we brought you back."

Sophie looked at the small crowd in the room. Josh she recognized, but the other three faces were unfamiliar to her. She stared at them for a long moment and realized that she _did_ know one of them. The redhead, a second cousin or something. Her name wasn't at the front of Sophie's mind, so she stared at her until she came up with it. "Siobhan Cavanaugh? What the hell are you doing here? Where is here?"

"You're at the Abattoir." Siobhan explained. "The compound."

Sophie's wide eyes narrowed in confusion. "Marcel's compound?"

"Klaus' compound, actually." Josh said off-handedly.

"It belongs to the Mikaelsons, but we all call it home for now." Siobhan said. She smiled and stepped forward, handing Sophie a steaming cup of tea. "It's good to see you again, Sophie. It's been a while. I think the last time I saw you was before my parents died."

Sophie took the cup, but didn't drink. Instead she continued to look up at her relative. "Jack and Freya, right? Your mother was my father's first cousin. They died in a house fire or something."

"Actually, it was a werewolf attack." Siobhan corrected. "We burned the house down as a cover. I couldn't really tell all my neighbors that a bunch of werewolves broke in and murdered my witch parents, could I?"

"We never heard what happened to you." Sophie said. "My mother wanted to bring you here to live with us, but my father thought it was a bad idea for some reason. Where did you go?"

Siobhan smiled. "Klaus and Elijah took me in."

"What?"

"Well, Elijah really." Siobhan amended. "He was the one that moved into the new house with me and took care of me, raised me as his own child. He was a wonderful father. Still is. Klaus was like that big brother or uncle that lives far away and you only get to see a few times a year. I was always so excited when he came to visit."

Sophie stared at Siobhan. "Wait. The Mikaelsons took you in after your parents died? How did we never know that?"

"Oh, your parents knew." Siobhan replied. "I knew they wanted to take me in, but I didn't want to move all the way out here. So when Elijah volunteered to stay with me I took him up on the offer. He spoke to your parents and explained everything. I suppose they never told you because they didn't want to get involved."

"Why?"

"Why did Elijah take me in, or why did we bring you back?" Siobhan asked.

Sophie shook her head slightly. "Both."

Siobhan smiled. "Elijah took me in because they're my family too. Supposedly the Cavanaughs are somehow related to Esther."

"And we brought you back because we need your help." Davina finished. "A war's about to start, and we need all the magic we can get."

"The French Quarter witches were never on our side." Siobhan said. "You know that. But some things have happened that have only made them angrier."

One of the other witches stepped forward. The taller one with the longer hair. "And we're also up against the werewolves, Esther Mikaelson, and a bunch of humans that seem to want all the supernatural species wiped out. We've formed our own coven within these walls and we're strong. But we're small, and as Davina said, we need all the magic we can get. We wanted to bring back both you and your sister."

"But Jane Anne wouldn't come." Sophie said, remembering her spirit pleading with Jane Anne's in the darkness she had found herself in after she had been sucked out of the Other Side. "She found peace when she died, and she didn't want to come back to all of this."

"Could you try to convince her?" the dark haired witch asked. "We need—"

"Tessa." The third one stepped forward and put her hand on the other woman's shoulder. "We've got Sophie back. We can worry about trying to convince Jane Anne to come back later. She needs to rest. You know how hard it is to come back from the dead."

Tessa nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry." She smiled at Sophie. "Welcome home."

The others smiled as well as they filed out of the room.

"Drink your tea, and get some sleep." Siobhan said. "You'll be sharing this room with Cami and Meredith, but you'll have it to yourself tonight. Get some rest. We'll explain everything and introduce you to everyone tomorrow."

Sophie watched as Siobhan stepped out of the room and shut the door. She was alone now. Alone in Klaus' home. These witches, this new coven, had brought her back to help Klaus and whomever else had sided with him fight a war. She shifted her gaze to the cup in her hands and stared at the liquid inside.

She had wanted to come back. When they had asked her to she had jumped at the chance. She felt it hadn't been her time to die, but was this what she wanted to come back to? Did she really want to get involved in this war for the city again? Especially since it sounded like it had grown much worse since she had been gone. She had seen a lot of what had gone down in New Orleans after Monique had killed her, but she had been sucked into the darkness just as things had really started to heat up. She didn't know how long it had been since then, or what had happened. She didn't know who all these people were living under this roof that she was expected to work with and for. She didn't know who she was expected to fight against, or even if she wanted to. What if she just wanted to be a normal person?

Would they let her make the choice herself? If she decided not to help would they let her walk away from New Orleans and let her powers fade away so that she could live a normal life as a normal woman in a normal town? Or would they send her back to wherever she had been?

"Jane Anne," she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek. "I don't know what to do. I need your help. Please, _please_ come back and help me."

_Welcome home._

Tessa's words echoed in her head, but she didn't feel like she was home. She didn't even feel like herself. What if she _couldn't_ help them? Sitting here in this bed, in a room she would apparently be sharing with two other women, one of whom she didn't know, she felt alone and a little scared. Mostly because she didn't know what she had just been dragged into, but also because she couldn't feel her magic. She was of no use to them if she had no magic, so what would keep them from taking this second chance at life away from her? She didn't want to go back to that cold, dark, empty place. She didn't really want to help Klaus either, and it looked like she couldn't. She had a feeling as she finally took a sip of the tea her cousin had given her that this was going to end up being a disaster.

With a sigh she drained the cup and set it on one of the bedside tables. She turned out the lamp and crawled under the covers. Whatever happened it was going to have to wait until tomorrow. Coming back from the dead was hard work and she was exhausted. She pushed everything out of her mind, closed her eyes, and was asleep in seconds. Let the world go on without her for one more night.


End file.
